


Shall We Play a Game?

by blynninja



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: First Meeting, Fluff, Gen, Multi, Other, Random prompt, kind of, love in the time of hydra, slightly AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-15 23:32:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11816493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blynninja/pseuds/blynninja
Summary: Title might change. Based on a prompt on Tumblr following episode 2x14, Love in the Time of HYDRA, surrounding Fury's "retreat" and the line about Rogers spending time there.





	Shall We Play a Game?

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a kind-of [prompt from Tumblr](http://b-lynninja.tumblr.com/post/115269760625/b-lynninja-trovia-somebody-alert-me-when-that), forever ago--sorry, trovia!!  
> I’m not sure it’s exactly what the prompt meant, but it’s what flowed from my fingers when I started scribbling it on scraps of paper. It turned into 1200+ words in a matter of hours.  
> Also sort of inspired by [Echoes and Questions](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10305962/1/Echoes-and-Questions) by Rachel Smith Cobleigh. I’ve read it I don’t even know how many times at this point.  
> Slightly AU and out of character, maybe.

She was on her forty-second game of Solitaire since arriving at the Retreat, having exhausted all other options in the cupboard. It was tough to play most board games alone, so she had been surprised to see Monopoly® and a few others in there with the cards.

Solitaire was a good distraction, though, and she’d have been lying if she said she’d hated the game up to this point.

She was nearly finished with this current game when a noise outside startled her.

Coulson and May always called before they showed up, and she usually just video chatted with Fitz and Simmons.

 _This could be a random hunter or something_ , she thought, but then dismissed the idea. This place was too remote even for anything like that. Maybe an animal, but even those she hadn’t seen many of in her time here so far.

Before she could check the security panel, the door opened, and Skye nearly screamed, brandishing her handful of cards as a potential distraction tool, even as part of her brain said it was a bad plan.

To her surprise, the person intruding on her retreat was—

“Captain America?” she choked out, dropping the cards as he looked at her in surprise.

“Steve,” he replied almost automatically as he stopped in the doorway. “And you are…?” he asked, reaching for his shield.

“Uh, Skye. I’m a SHIELD agent,” she said clumsily, reaching for her old badge.

“SHIELD fell. I was there.” There was suspicion in his voice, and rightly so, she figured.

“I… I work with Coulson,” Skye explained, and Captain America’s eyes widened as he closed the door behind him and sat in the chair across from her.

“Coulson’s dead,” he said heavily, frowning. “I saw it.”

“Well, he got an extreme makeover,” Skye replied, studying the super soldier.

He looked pained, not to mention dirty, like he’d been outside for a long time.

“Coulson mentioned you spent time here once,” she said cautiously, and Captain America glanced up at her.

“I did,” he confirmed, his eyes crinkling as if he hated the memory. “Most boring weeks of my life.”

He glanced around the cabin and then his eyes met hers.

“How long has Coulson had you here?”

“About a week,” she replied with a frown. “You look like hell, if you don’t mind me saying. You’re welcome to use the shower or whatever, if you need to.”

He grinned at her then, examining himself for a moment. “What, I don’t _need_ a shower?”

Skye grinned back, though uneasily. “I guess you probably do.”

He pulled his shield off of its arm holster and propped it against the couch, then headed for the tiny bathroom, glancing back at her to add, “Finish that game. If I’m not done by then, bang on the door or something.”

She quirked any eyebrow at him and he smiled. “Military showers. Anything longer is a waste of water.”

Skye nodded slowly, watching him close the bathroom door with a foot, and suddenly realized she needed to pee. No way was she interrupting Captain America showering, so she returned to her game. 

Sure enough, less than ten minutes later, she was finished with her game and Captain America was settling himself in the chair across from her again.

He started to say something, but Skye blurted, “Sorry, have to pee!” and rushed to the bathroom, ignoring the pain in her arms as she rested her palms against the counter for a moment, getting a grip on the emotions. Now was not the time to start an earthquake or shatter glass.

Quickly, she did what she had come in for in the first place, trying not to take too long in washing her hands even though water was one of the only things that helped the pain, strangely. Wiping her hands hurt, so she tried not to wince as she did so.

Quietly, she walked back out to the main area, smiling sheepishly.

“Sorry. Didn’t want to bug you right after you’d walked in.”

Captain America—Steve, she reminded herself—smiled reassuringly, and then gestured to her wrists.

“What happened there?” he asked, and she thought she saw a wince of sympathy as she pulled her gloves back on properly.

“Oh, I, um…” Skye cast about her brain for an answer, but Steve was perceptive.

“Coulson and Fury wouldn’t put someone here if wasn’t something serious.”

He said it gently, but there was an edge to his tone, too.

She stared at him for a minute, pondering the implications of the statement, and Steve continued, “I’ve been around people with gifts, Skye. I know how strange it can be to wake up that first day and not really know what’s going on. If you don’t want to talk about it, it’s fine, but I don’t have any plans, either. I’m a pretty decent listener.”

She watched as he smiled gently at her, then took a breath, and it all came tumbling out.

“I just found out recently after this crazy journey to find an alien city and we had to fight my psychopath dad along the way and I changed in this crazy mist and I’m different and my friends think I’m dangerous!” 

She paused for breath, not realizing how good it felt letting the words out until now. Not even talking to May’s ex-husband had been quite this liberating.

Steve was looking at her curiously, appraisingly.

“You don’t seem dangerous to me,” he commented finally. “But then, neither necessarily does Black Widow to look at her.”

Skye gaped at him for a moment, running her fingers over her gloves.

“What’s dangerous about you?” he asked then, catching her eye.

“I… I… I can’t control my powers yet,” she stammered, holding out her arms. “I tried to stop them once and ended up hurting myself.”

“Your key word is ‘yet’,” Steve said easily, leaning back in his chair.

“What?”

“You said you can’t control your powers _yet_. You think Iron Man figured out flying suits of armor in a day? Or Thor was able to control his lightning perfectly on the first try?”

He gestured to himself as he added, “Or that I understood everything about the serum inside me right away?”

Skye couldn’t find an answer for that, so she just shrugged.

“No, we weren’t in control right away,” he supplied for her, smiling. “It took time, and practice, but we all figured it out.”

“How much time?” she dared to ask, and Steve pursed his lips, considering her.

“It’s different for everyone, I’m afraid.”

“I was afraid you’d say that,” Skye groaned.

“Sorry, kid,” Steve replied with a smile, and Skye protested automatically, “I’m not a kid.”

“Hey, when you’re 95, you can call anybody under 30 a kid,” Steve defended himself, smiling smugly.

Skye rolled her eyes. “Well you don’t _look_ 95\. I forgot.”

Before he could respond she added, “And I’m not a kid.”

“It’s just a habit,” Steve explained, “And I apologize.”

“So what were you doing wandering the woods out here anyway?” Skye asked to change subjects.

She regretted the question when Steve stiffened for a second, and then he replied, “I’ve been looking for an old friend. I was near here so I figured I’d take a break between leads.”

 _Bucky_ , Skye realized, and Steve flinched.

“Oh! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to say it out loud,” she apologized, and Steve shook his head.

“No, it’s fine. It’s just been frustrating. My friend Sam was with me, but he had to get back to civilization. And frankly I’m not good company when I’m this frustrated. That’s part of why I’m here: to clear my head.”

He smiled at her ruefully. “Except it didn’t go as planned.”

“Sorry,” Skye shrugged, not feeling the nonchalance in the action but faking it anyway.

“I had no way of knowing anybody else would be here,” Steve acknowledged. “I just assumed it would still be empty, especially after the HYDRA thing. Although, it could have been taken by them, too, knowing their connections.”

“Well, it’s not. It’s still SHIELD’s,” Skye responded lamely.

“I kind of figured that out,” he replied with a smile, and Skye shrugged again.

“How did you even remember where this place was?” she asked suddenly, remembering how she had gotten here. Surely Fury hadn’t let him see out the windows of whatever aircraft they’d arrived on.

“I found a map in the desk drawer and figured it out,” Steve replied, shrugging. “Super soldier serum thing.”

“Of course,” Skye returned sarcastically, scowling at him for a second. “Super memory. I’d forgotten.”

“You know, you seem to have a pretty terrible memory,” he teased, and Skye sighed.

“Guess being holed up in the middle of nowhere does that to you.”

Steve frowned at her. “I was kidding.”

Skye settled further into the couch cushions as Steve observed her, suddenly uncomfortable having him in the room.

“It’s the gift thing, isn’t it?” he asked, smiling almost sadly at her and getting too close to the truth for comfort.

Skye stayed silent, willing him to stop talking.

No such luck.

Steve leaned forward in his chair, steepling his fingers under his chin.

“You’re used to being around people, and now you’re stuck in the middle of nowhere with very few distractions and a gift you can’t figure out. I can relate.”

When she didn’t respond, he continued, “I woke up 70 years in the future, surrounded by things I didn’t understand. Fury stuck me here to help me acclimate. I kind of liked the silence at first, but there are only so many games of Solitaire a person can tolerate.”

He glanced at her cards and Skye found herself stifling a small smile.

“It’s strange to wake up in a time that’s so different from what you’re used to. It’s stranger still to wake up after you’re supposed to be dead and have to get used to new technology and catch up on things you’ve missed out on.”

“You had time to get used to your gift, though. Before you crashed the plane,” Skye found herself saying.

“Well, yeah. But that was interesting, too. One minute I’m this puny kid from Brooklyn, and the next I’m chasing a HYDRA spy through the streets with strength and speed I could never have fathomed, in a completely new body. It took a while to get used to.”

Skye looked down, fidgeting with her gloves.

“But I _did_ get used to it,” Steve pressed on. “It took time, but I learned how to use my speed and my strength to my advantage and for good.”

He grinned at her. “I sound like a pamphlet or something, don’t I? ‘Use your gifts to save the world. Join SHIELD!’”

Skye chuckled, and Steve smiled.

“There’s a smile.”

“You sound like a dad trying to cheer his kid up.” 

“Probably the ‘I’m actually 95’ thing,” Steve commented, but she knew he’d noticed her scowl.

He didn’t comment on her ‘psychopath father’ comment from earlier, for which she was glad.

“Would you like someone to play against?” Steve asked then, and Skye blinked, frowning at him.

Steve gestured to her stack of cards. “I happen to know there’s a board game or two in the cupboard that may be more entertaining than a solitary card game.”

Skye paused for a moment, considering the offer, and then grinned.

“You’re on, Grandpa.”

Steve only rolled his eyes as she stood and retrieved Monopoly from the cupboard.

“Think you remember how to play this one?” Skye teased, quirking an eyebrow.

Steve sighed even as he grinned back. “Kid, I have been playing this game since before you were born.”

“Again with the ‘kid’!” Skye mock-complained, opening the box. “Okay, old timer, let’s see how well you manage a bank.”

“I’m probably better at it than you,” Steve returned, taking the bills she offered and beginning to deal out denominations.

Skye chose their game pieces, and they began to play.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm terrible at ending fics, guys. This has been like half-finished for like two and a half years, guys. Ack.  
> Haha, 42. See what I did there?  
> Not the special gloves Simmons made for her, but the brace-like gloves. I just wanted to call them gloves because I don’t even know. They look like gloves to me, I guess. Idk.  
> Say Steve has a duffel bag or backpack or something for changing clothes. W/e.  
> Monopoly came out in 1903. Steve was born in 1920 or 25, depending on which Wiki page you believe; I saw two conflicting dates. Either way, Monopoly is older than he is.


End file.
